One of my favorite performers and people; Johnny is a multi-talented comic, writer, host and actor. There is no one better at combining, biting social commentary with sharply playful comedy. In recent years, and in addition to the pandemic, he has had many major life challenges and traumas; from losing his dog, to a fire, to his home and marriage to a freak injury that took months and months of rehab. He grew up as a jock in The East Bay area outside San Francisco. He has an incredibly fast brain and ADD; which he thinks may have had roots in the many football concussions he experienced. He says the way his brain is wired; he’s still thinking about who to ask to the prom and that many of these women are now either dead, married or divorced. As a standup in San Francisco he is wildly popular and won the SF International Comedy Competition. Other winners and finalists are people like Robin Williams, Dan Carvey, Kevin Pollak, Doug Stanhope and Marc Maron to name a few. In this episode, we talk about trauma and how to simply acknowledge difficult emotions and experiences. Simple ways to breathe, to exhale, to deal with severe anxiety by having a two way conversation with it. Jennifer shares simple skills like the “whew” exhale and putting a hand on heart and saying “I feel this way, because I care so much.” And again, the role anxiety plays in protecting us, and where it comes from in our brain. And how you can change the direction of your thinking in the moment, by focusing on general things that you have a good feeling about. Again, it’s imagination working as a tool to shift from worry. We can use our minds to think about what we don’t want, we can also shift towards what we DO want. As Jennifer says “If you have time to worry, you have time for other things that can change persepctive and shift the way we respond to our thoughts and feelings.” Good listen, funny and real! Learn more about Johhny here: https://smmcatslistings.com/johnny-steele-performer/ Find out more about all kinds of resources, parenting and self parenting from Jennifer here: https://connectedparenting.com/ and when able subscribez vous; if you’ll pardon my French , share the show with a friend, subscribe if able! Come and Socialize with us! Don’t be a stranger! Write us if you have a thing you’d like us to talk about, or something that worked for you, or maybe you just want to blame us, write here: ed@makelightmedia.com https://www.facebook.com/mentalhealthcomedypodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/thementalhealthcomedypodcast/